This moment for voice/AI assistants as an interface is as meaningful as what the iPhone did for smartphones.
Amazon is striving to make Alexa+ a more intuitive, powerful, and indispensable virtual assistant, ultimately aiming to shift user interaction away from traditional smartphone interfaces.
This is a timing and positioning masterstroke. High functioning agentic superapps that look like apps on your phone with far higher agency, controlled by voice from the centre of your home.
The forces to make this happen need to play into consumer demand and increased distribution, usage and commercialisation for brands. This announcement shows a path to how this flywheel can get activated. Amazon love a flywheel.
Amazon has laid out its Assistant road map that charts a path to mass consumer attention away from primary smartphone behaviour with to all encompassing and powerful assistant Alexa+. $19.99 / month or free for all Prime users.
Amazon tried and failed to get in on the mobile revolution with the fire phone but by biding their time and staying with their vision of what intelligence could deliver at home they have a real shot of getting that all important training data to create the most useful assistant that will eventually take us away from our phones and into a voice controlled, wearable future.
But where are we today?
600 million Alexas. 2023-2024 saw a 20% increase in usage, Alexa+ will roll out in March available at a cost of $19.99 / month or free to all Prime members.
What was announced?
AI powered Alexa, called Alexa+. It is an enhanced, AI-driven version of Alexa, designed to be more conversational and capable. It leverages advanced AI models, including those from Anthropic, to provide more nuanced and contextually aware responses.
Key features include:
- Enhanced natural language understanding.
- Proactive task management, such as booking reservations and scheduling appointments.
- Improved smart home control with more intuitive voice commands.
- Enhanced media integration, allowing for precise control of content on platforms like Prime Video.
- Improved information retrieval, through partnerships with expert information sources.
- New features for children, “Stories with Alexa” and “Explore with Alexa”
- An enhanced user interface for screen based devices as well as a new app and dedicated website at alexa.com
How can I use it to advertise or get more people using my products and services?
Businesses can leverage Alexa+’s improved conversational abilities to create more engaging and personalised shopping experiences and integrate their services with Alexa+ to provide users with convenient voice-activated access.
The future of advertising and marketing in 2025 will be heavily influenced by AI, voice technology, and personalized experiences.
Marketers must be adaptable, data-driven, and focused on providing value to consumers.
There are a raft of new opportunities presented with a fast groing interface like voice and the key is getting the basics right, for example being able to start the conversation.
That’s where Say It Now’s 7 years of experience in this domain comes in. We have worked with hundreds of top tier advertisers to power their voice enabled advertising campaigns. They all have the working knowledge, benchmarks and understand the best practices to start these conversations with their customers.
It’s never too late to start, please get in touch today to start your conversation with Say It Now.
Alexa+ official teaser:
Charles Cadbury 